Math Fun!

I just spent the last two weeks teaching at the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) Standards Academy!  It was amazing to be among other K-2 teachers and learn so many cool ideas!

Here in Utah, we have adopted the "Common Core Standards", but of course, are open to the idea of new and changing standards throughout the coming years.  Teaching the new math standards is one of my favorite things!  It is amazing to see a child's face light up when they learned a new strategy!

If you are a fellow 1st grade teacher, you probably understand the need to have "Base Ten Blocks" in your classroom.  I have a set, but they can be very expensive and hard to manage at times with so many students.  A teacher shared this idea to make smaller, individual sets that are really affordable!

In case you can't tell, these are homemade Base Ten Blocks made from plastic lattice.  You can find this at any craft store.  Just using scissors, you are able to make "ones", "tens" and even "hundreds" and store them in a handy little three part case!  How fun, inexpensive and easy!